The CEO of the peak body for Fintechs has spoken out in advance of the Federal Budget announcement, telling Australian Broker that the $1.2 billion that the Prime Minister announced for the digital economy was “welcome news” for the industry.
The new Digital Economy Strategy will see a huge boost in funding across digital industries, with the fintech industry boosted by over $100 million to roll out Consumer Data Rights in banking.
Consumer Data Right legislation could be passed that would allow customers to more easily change banks, which many within the fintech sector believe will result in greater market share for neobanks.
“There’s a lot of welcome news from the Morrison Government’s Digital Strategy,” said Rebecca Schot-Guppy, CEO, FinTech Australia. “Overall, we believe it indicates a broader shift in their thinking about how tech and fintech sectors can stimulate the economy and lead it towards a stronger future. This will be a key theme of our Intersekt fintech conference next week."
“From a policy perspective, there’s two key areas that we believe to be key to the fintech ecosystem. We welcome the announcement that fintechs will be able to depreciate software, patents, designs and copyrights.”
“We also hope it's the starting point for a broader discussion of a separate pool of funds for software innovation with the research and development tax incentive.”
Schot-Guppy told Australian Broker last week about the importance of Open Banking to the fintech sector, and how vital the adaptation of Consumer Data Rights could be to allowing fintechs to expand.
“The additional $111 million earmarked to expedite the rollout of the Consumer Data Right is good news for the sector,” she said. Taking this further, we would like to see the government push the introduction of intermediaries into the CDR, as this would have the greatest impact on uptake and adoption.”
